Different Strokes
Stopped making sense
All this goes to show that “overlooking” players who dare to try and earn some mortgage money in an Indian domestic cricket is a complete and utter nonsense
Paul Ford
25-Feb-2013
 |
 |
It remains unfathomable, preposterous and ridiculous that Shane Bond is not considered for the New Zealand team, yet is being watched and no doubt admired by selectors as he tours the country wreaking a little havoc here and there for his domestic team, Canterbury. In recent weeks he has played at obscure venues such as Mainpower Oval in Rangiora and Fitzherbert Park in Palmerston North, thundering in before “crowds” comprising just a few hundred fans.
It is utter nonsense.
This week Bond was at the 1974 Commonwealth Games venue, QEII Park, on the outskirts of his home town of Christchurch. He delivered a genuinely hostile spell of fast bowling (10 overs, 3 maidens, 1 for 24) to the Wellington top order and impressed his domestic coach Bob Carter who told The Press: “I think when he bowls like that and with that pace, our attack becomes that much more potent. I think they were 94 for eight at one stage and a lot of that could be put down to the pressure…in the first 10 overs." NZ coach Andy Moles was behind the rope watching, along with selection panel convenor Glenn Turner.
Full postThe Ex men
More revealing though is the unspoken assumption (tradition) that past captains are unlikely to keep playing under a new leader
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
It does highlight the cultural differences that exist with the issue of captaincy from country to country. Australia (and perhaps NZ too) seem to embrace an old-fashioned view of the captain and his relationship within the team dynamic. It is almost taken for granted that the job is reserved for a relatively senior player, arguably the best player in the team. More revealing though is the unspoken assumption (tradition) that past captains are unlikely to keep playing under a new leader. It’s something that Australia and NZ are generally uncomfortable about – once your position as captain has been usurped, it’s normally the end of your career too.
I can only think of a couple of recent examples when Greg Chappell played briefly under Kim Hughes’ captaincy and then Hughes himself had a few horror games against the West Indies in 1984/85 under Allan Border. Neither situation was likely to last very long, adding to my theory that it is almost not the done thing to remain in the team once you are no longer the captain.
I’m not that good on my NZ history but the same rationale seems to apply there too. Stephen Fleming had a brief period as a player after he gave up the captaincy but it just didn’t seem right. His legacy as a great leader and elder statesman seemed to choke rather than liberate his successor. Nothing obvious but it just appeared that way from the outside.
Full postEveryone needs a coach
Not just anyone can coach
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
In England the new year has begun with a row, as the simmering dissatisfaction with Peter Moores as head coach of Team England boils over into the public domain. My estimate is that Moores is now a dead man walking since neither the current captain nor his predecessor seem to have any confidence in him, and that makes his position just about untenable.
I have to disagree with Samir’s scepticism about the value of international coaches. A coach is as important to an international team as a wicketkeeper: a great one can be the fulcrum of a side and a bad one can be a major weakness.
Full postHow South Africa became Australia
Fast scoring in the first three innings now means there’s lots of time left in the game for the chase
Stephen Gelb
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
It’s been an incredible couple of weeks and I had my little gloat after Day 3, Duminy Day, in Melbourne. Some more serious reflection is in order.
But before that, let me clarify. In saying that South Africa is the new Australia, I wasn’t arguing that SA are the new number one (though they may be in a few days). I was simply enjoying the role reversal which has been especially surprising and enjoyable over here on the Indian Ocean’s west. For South Africa to be organised, skilful and confident while the other lot were chaotic, disunited, choking, and generally blowing it – that was really a change. Usually it’s us who carry the latter labels. (As always, I’m talking about more than cricket only - see Olympics, football - or even only sport - see electricity, crime-fighting, AIDS, Zimbabwe…. ) For years, Australia have been organised, machine-like, and confident to the point of arrogance. But suddenly, we’ve swapped hats and black is the new white.
Anyway, serious point one. After closing out the Perth run-chase, AB de Villiers said he never doubted SA would make it. His faith may be religion-based, but it’s also true that large totals don’t carry the intimidation they used to. As if to prove this, Bangladesh made 413 today chasing 521 against Sri Lanka, slotting in at 11 on the all-time highest 4th innings scores. If we look at the top 20 on that list (excluding the 654/5 in the Timeless Test), seven were in the past 18 months, and another three since 2002. This has something to do with ODIs, but in fact its cause is the incredible leap in overall run-rates in Tests. This is the lasting legacy of the now-ended Taylor/Waugh/Ponting Mark I era of Aussie dominance. ODIs had been played for more than two decades before Test run-rates went up, after all (and run-rates rose before T20s were on the scene). One of the keys to successful chases in Chennai and Perth was the lack of time pressure so that batsmen could play ‘normal cricket’. Fast scoring in the first three innings now means there’s lots of time left in the game for the chase. Of course, the pace of Sehwag, and to a lesser extent Smith, made it easier for those following, but isn’t their approach itself founded on the Taylor-and-after Aussies? Wasn’t Michael Slater the pioneer here?
Full postIndia's one-two punch
The most striking thing to me about India’s performance in the pair of Tests against England was that they have finally solved their opening batsman problem
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
The most striking thing to me about India’s performance in the pair of Tests against England was that they have finally solved their opening batsman problem.
From the time Sunil Gavaskar retired until very recently, opening India’s batting was as thankless as batting at three for England. Around the turn of the millennium, Indian opening batsmen were rather like Indian opening bowlers of the Seventies, mere hors d’oeuvres before the introduction of the Fab Four – spinners or batsmen, depending on decade.
Eventually Virender Sehwag, a promising middle order bat, realised that he could either wait seven years to get a chance in his preferred position or have a go at opening. For those raised on the cautious principles which Gavaskar followed as an opener, Sehwag was either a shock or an abomination, since caution was a concept entirely unknown to him.
Full postFrom Rolls Royce to sedan
The champagne days are over for the time being
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
When you get used to driving a Rolls Royce on an Autobahn, it sometimes takes awhile to adjust to driving a normal family sedan on a suburban street. Whilst the Rolls was powered by engines of the calibre of McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, the Waugh twins, Langer and Gillespie, it makes the transition to a four cylinder compact, fuelled by Siddle, Lee, Symonds and Hauritz/Krezja an even harder psychological vehicle to drive.
Australia’s batting performance in the second innings at the MCG reflects the above analogy perfectly. For so long, perhaps a decade or so, Australia batted like princes, comfortable in the knowledge that they had the depth and class to ride out any minor hiccups. Most situations were treated the same way – back your ability and those of your brilliant mates to smash your way out of trouble. If all of the top order failed, rare as that was, there was always Gilchrist to come.
In the very early days of a crumbling empire, the first sign is usually a refusal to accept that some things have changed and the world will never be the same again. Throughout this series, and especially in the second innings in Melbourne, Australia batted like royalty but failed to realise that the kingdom, whilst not yet relinquished, was certainly not theirs to take for granted.
Full postSouth Africa is the new Australia
We were the ones with skills, scoring at a good rate while the Aussies dropped catches and conceded overthrows
Stephen Gelb
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
What a day! I don’t remember enjoying a day’s cricket as much since Laxman and Dravid stuck it to Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001.
In South Africa, we tend to exaggerate both the lows and the highs (and not just on the sports field). After last week’s fantastic chase at Perth, many here indulged in typical hyperbole, calling it South Africa’s ‘best ever’ Test win. That’s way over the top – what about the series-clinching Day 5 at Edgbaston only 6 months ago? Or Sydney 1994? Or Faisalabad in 1997, our first series win in Asia? Not to mention quite a few matches in the 1960s and earlier.
If we win this Melbourne Test (or next week’s at Sydney), it will instantly become our best ever win - our first series win in Australia. If Melbourne and Sydney both turn out to be draws, then I’ll agree - Perth is our best ever. And today went an awfully long way to making a Melbourne draw possible, indeed likely.
Full postOver-rate blues
What is clear though (although not quite as obvious to the ICC) is that we have a major problem with over-rates
Michael Jeh
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
Recent series’ involving New Zealand have done little to spark interest either side of the Tasman whilst at the same time, Chennai and Perth produced two of the finest Tests ever witnessed. All of a sudden, everyone was buzzing again. Then along came the Mohali Test and killed off that brief excitement. That last day was a knife through the heart of Test cricket.
What is clear to Blind Freddy though (although not quite as obvious to the ICC) is that we have a major problem with over-rates. It’s almost taken for granted now that we will use up the extra half hour each evening and even then, the 90 overs are often not completed. Even with spinners operating, this problem remains constant.
Cricket now operates in the ‘entertainment’ industry. If you keep cheating the public of value for money, they will vote with their feet (or remote controls). Cricketers keep talking about the value of Test cricket but their actions sometime belie the rhetoric.
Full postMerry Quizmas
The answers to the eight clues are all Test cricketers, one from each of the eight main Test-playing countries
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
Here’s a little amusement to while away a dull half-hour over the holiday.
The main answer is a well-known cricketing name, which is spelled out by the initials of the answers to the eight clues. If the first two clues led to Mohammed Azharuddin and Rob Key, we would be looking for someone called MARK…..
The answers to the eight clues are all Test cricketers, one from each of the eight main Test-playing countries (ie not Bangladesh or Zimbabwe). Most of them are recent and at least reasonably well-known, though a couple are one-Test wonders of older vintage who just happen to be the only Test players I could find with the relevant initials.
1. A wicket keeper who played his only Test against New Zealand in the 1970s. He scored 7*, took two catches and conceded 16 byes.
Full postThree's Company
The main function of an England number three is to serve as the focus of the complaints about the fragile batting for a decent period before being dropped or moved to somewhere more congenial
Mike Holmans
25-Feb-2013
|
|
 |
Spare a thought this Christmas for poor Ian Bell. Unless he manages a hundred in the second innings at Mohali, he will spend the festive period wondering anxiously about his future.
There has always been an air of impermanence about Bell. He is one of those players who fails to inspire confidence even when he scores runs by the cartload. A couple of years ago, he was getting hundreds for fun at number six but there was still a general reluctance to acknowledge him as having arrived as a fixture in the Test team. When he got 199 against South Africa at Lord’s this summer, it looked for a week or two as though he had achieved acceptance but as soon as Paul Collingwood also got runs, the murmurings about him restarted.
And then came the fatal blow. He was “promoted” to bat at number three.
Full post